Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/44

 Biwa, a few miles north of the town of Ōtsu, measured as follows:—

The roof of the chamber consisted in this instance of three large stones.

These tombs sometimes stand singly, but are more commonly found in groups of ten to forty or fifty. The lower slope of a hill, just where it touches the plain, is a favourite position for them. When the earth of these mounds has been washed away, so that the massive blocks of stone which form the roof protrude from the surface, they present a striking resemblance to the dolmens of Europe, and more especially to those megalithic monuments known in France as allées couvertes. The peasantry call them iwa-ya, or "rock-houses," and imagine that they were the dwellings of their remote ancestors, or that they were used as refuges from a fiery rain which fell in ancient times. They are little cared for by the Japanese, and in too many cases have been used as quarries for the building materials which they contain. Nearly all have been rifled at some period or other.

During the eighth century of the Christian era, this style of sepulture fell gradually into disuse under the influence of Buddhist ideas. In the eyes of a Buddhist, vast costly structures were not only a burden to the people, but were objectionable as tending to foster false notions of the real value of these mortal frames of ours. Many of the Mikados were earnest devotees of Buddhism. Beginning with Gemmyō Tennō in A.D. 715, a long series of them abdicated the throne in order to spend the remainder of their lives